Al Qaeda number-two Ayman al-Zawahri urged Palestinians to reject a referendum called by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in a videotape aired on Friday on Al-Jazeera television.
"Don't do it! Youse'll be sorry if you do it!"
Whereas a message by Taliban chief Mullah Omar said that Zarqawi's death will not weaken Iraqi resistance.
"Nope. Nope. No effect. Might as well have stayed home."
"I call upon them to reject any referendum on Palestine, because Palestine is not for bargaining or bidding," Zawahri said, addressing Muslims in general. "Palestine was a land of Islam, and its liberation is the duty of every Muslim," he added. Zawahri also condemned the Arab peace initiative to normalise relations with Israel in return for land, proposed in 2002 by then Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. He mocked the Saudi monarch, calling him "the custodian of the American monotheistic ideology". He slammed Arab leaders for not helping the Palestinians financially after international donors cut aid to the Palestinian Authority after Hamas' win in January legislative elections.
US experts on Friday were analysing the videotape attributed to Zawahri, but believe it was recorded before the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the White House said. Meanwhile, a statement attributed to the Taliban chief said on Friday that the death of al-Zarqawi will not weaken the Iraqi resistance as there are thousands ready to take his place and "even accelerate" the struggle.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2006 00:00 ||
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Accelerate is good, cue the AC-130s, mow em down like grass
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/10/2006 0:15 Comments ||
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NO SURPRISE - "Even accelerate the struggle" > means the Spetzlamists may NOT wait for Dubya to invade Iran, but may unilater choose to attack America, i.e. Dubya GOP-NPE and Washington, first.
DEMS > SURVIVING GOP-CAUSED/BLAMED AMER HIROSHIMAS = SAVING WORLD FROM GOP-CAUSED/BLAMED NUKE WAR > ergo between now and 2008 the Dems have a Potemkinist stake in looking weak cuz AFTER 2008 IS WHEN THEIR BIG COMMIE GLOBALIST GEOPOL ANTI-AMER MOVE(S) BEGINS. 2008 > DEATH OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY = THE OVERT PC/PDENIABLE BIRTH OF THE USSA, CPUS, THE CCUS, THE FUTURE [WEAK]REGIONAL-GLOBAL AMERIKKAN SSR UNDER OWG.
ISLAMIST militiamen fired into the air to disperse hundreds of Somalis protesting early today against moves by sharia courts to stop them watching the World Cup in the capital Mogadishu. The soccer tournament had drawn huge crowds to television screens set up under trees and iron-sheeted shacks, providing some escape from the tension that has gripped Mogadishu since Islamists seized control from an alliance of warlords on Monday.
Witnesses said scores of young men set fire to tyres last night in protests that carried on into the early hours of today after Islamist gunmen pulled the plug on makeshift cinemas airing the soccer tournament. Two people were wounded when militia tried to break up the demonstrations that centred around the main livestock market in an Islamist stronghold in the capital's north, residents said. "The Islamic militia of the area issued an order to stop them watching films as well as the World Cup this year in Germany," said Elmi Muse, a resident said. "It is unacceptable to oppress the people," he added.
Similar moves by Islamist militia to close cinemas and video stores in Mogadishu last November triggered heavy fighting that killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 20. Leaders of the capital's influential Islamic courts oppose Western and Indian films which they say promote immorality in the mainly Muslim nation of 10 million people. Some residents fear the latest move to outlaw foreign entertainment is proof the Islamists want to create a Muslim state following their victory against a self-styled anti-terrorism coalition of secular warlords, believed to be backed by Washington.
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#1
It would be a different story if Allan had a good football team, but they're trying to stop people from seeing Iran and Saudi Arabia get thumped by the Infidels.
#4
Dunno about Iran, but the Soddies got crucified (heh!) by the Germans 8-0 the last time they met in the world cup (2002).
I *really* wanted the US to play Iran, but the way the draw has turned out, that is now highly unlikely...(ie the semi-final) check out the wiki entry for more details (lots more details)
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
06/10/2006 21:46 Comments ||
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#5
Mexico vs Iran tomorrow. Viva Mexico!
Posted by: Matt ||
06/10/2006 23:00 Comments ||
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The United States will invite other nations to a strategy session next week on Somalia, where an Islamic militia group has routed U.S.-backed warlords and tightened its grip on the lawless nation.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Friday that European and African nations are among the members of an international consortium that will try to coordinate support for Somalia, which has had no fully working government for 15 years.
McCormack offered few details of the group or its agenda. The short notice reflected concern here about the tightening grip of the militia on the Somali capital, Mogadishu, and other cities.
On Tuesday, President Bush indicated concern that Somalia could become as Afghanistan was under the Taliban.
There's instability in Somalia, Bush said. The first concern, of course, is to make sure that Somalia does not become an al-Qaeda safe haven it doesn't become a place from which terrorists can plot and plan.
The United States has scrambled over the past week to respond to the collapse of the secular alliance of warlords it viewed as a counter to a militia with alleged links to al-Qaeda.
There are a number of different countries that have programs related to Somalia, McCormack said. So this is an opportunity for them to talk about what they're doing individually, how you might coordinate ... how you might look at doing things jointly.
The gathering in New York will mark the inaugural meeting of what will be known, as the Somalia Contact Group, McCormack said.
Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer will head the U.S. delegation. McCormack said a goal of the meeting will be to support Somalia's transitional government, a weak entity that has no presence in the capital. Its main strength comes from the many foreign governments, the United States included, that support it.
U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, have confirmed cooperating with the warlords in an attempt to root out any al-Qaeda members operating in the Horn of Africa.
The Bush administration has not confirmed or denied backing the alliance, saying only that it supports those who fight terror.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/10/2006 00:51 ||
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Tribal leaders on Friday rejected the possibility of U.N. peacekeepers replacing African Union forces in Darfur, with one chief threatening a "holy war" if non-African troops deployed to the Sudanese region.
Their concerns emerged as U.N. Security Council members met with Sudanese government and tribal leaders, relief workers and about 15 representatives of displaced people living in volatile camps surrounding this northern Darfur town. The council steered clear of the camps because of security concerns sparked by opposition to a Darfur peace agreement that the government and main rebel group signed May 5.
Earlier this week in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, President Omar Hassan Bashir told the council his government would proceed with talks on replacing African Union peacekeepers with a U.N. force, but he refused to give the plan an immediate green light.
That reluctance was echoed by tribal and youth leaders invited to meet the council in Darfur, the vast western region ravaged by an ethnic conflict that some, including the Bush administration, have called a genocide. Fighting has left an estimated 100,000 to 450,000 people dead and an additional 2 million homeless.
Mowadh Jalaladin, a representative of the Barty tribe , said handing over to a U.N. force "would inaugurate foreign occupation and intervention" and remind Sudanese of their colonial past, echoing earlier government rhetoric that has fanned anti-U.N. sentiment. Jalaladin said his tribe had about 250,000 members.
On Friday, the al-Jazeera satellite television network broadcast a videotape by the deputy leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in which he said the Security Council's visit to Sudan was "to prepare to occupy and divide it."
If a U.N. force comes to Darfur, Jalaladin said, "we are declaring jihad against it. . . . It means death. It means defending Sudan and Islam."
"The root causes of the Darfur conflict are the doing of the Jewish organizations who financed this armed rebellion," Jalaladin said. "We don't want the Security Council to be an instrument of the ugly undertakings of the United States of America."
Decades of low-level clashes in Darfur over land and water erupted in early 2003 when African rebel groups rose up against the Arab-led government, which responded by unleashing ethnic Arab militias known as janjaweed, who have been accused of atrocities. The government denies backing the janjaweed but agreed under the May 5 truce to disarm and disband them.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/10/2006 00:50 ||
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#1
Looks like any potens post-2008 DEM POTUS just got his = her first geopol "problem"???
#3
Yep, Joe. The Commie OWGs will have to negotiatefight it outhave dialogues deal with the Global Muzzies. I'm sure both sides are reasonable and some accommodation will be made that will please everyone, heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/10/2006 10:52 Comments ||
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Islamic militia leaders who seized Somalia's capital this week started discussing the future of the lawless country Thursday with its largely powerless U.N.-backed government.
A government spokesman, Abdirahman Nur Mohamed Dinari, said two ministers from the interim administration were meeting with "top leaders of the Islamic Courts Union" in Mogadishu.
The Islamic militia captured the capital and surrounding areas Monday when it defeated an alliance of secular warlords widely believed to be backed by the United States. Weeks of bloody fighting between the two sides left at least 330 people dead, many of them civilians caught in the crossfire.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/10/2006 00:45 ||
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Yusuf Mohamed Siad known as Indha-ade, the chairman of self styled authority in lower Shabelle region in southern Somalia, who has been several months in Mogadishu for enforcing the Islamic militiamen, has announced late on Thursday an Islamic court in Bulo-Hubey village of Wadajir district in southwest of the capital where Islamic fighters took over its control from warlords of anti terror alliance early this week.
Sheik Nor Hassan Ibrahim was nominated the chairman of the new Islamic court in Bulo-hubey which has the backing of Indha-adde who is not belong to Islamic Courts Union but supports them for clan purpose. Yusuf Indha-ade delivered speech at opening ceremony saying the new court is part of union of Islamic courts who had succeeded over the warlords after 15 years of gun-rule. It is necessity to establish Islamic courts in the places warlords were removed like Bulo-hubey village and other settlements in the capital, Indha-ade said adding also it is ought to exclude the remaining warlords in north of Mogadishu and form Islamic courts in their bases Insha-Allah (if Gold wills), Yusuf Indha-adde also said when establishing Islamic courts you should be very careful of what he called the human devils to disturb you.
Meanwhile, another Islamic court was announced in south of Mogadishu by intellectuals of Sarur sub-clan of Habar-gidir clan, it is the fourth clan based Islamic court declared its establishment in the capital after Islamic courts captured the city. Sheik Ali Salad Jele, was nominated for the chairman of the Islamic court, while Dahir Ali Qeyre was named for commander of the courts militia.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2006 00:00 ||
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The widow of an Algerian diplomat slain last year by al-Qaida in Iraq on Friday hailed the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, but warned he could turn into a martyr.
"I would have liked him to be captured and tortured until he said where he buried the remains of my husband, and the other hostages," she said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Ali Belaroussi, 62, headed Algerias diplomatic mission in Baghdad. He and Belkadi, 38, were seized at gunpoint from a street in the upscale Mansour district of western Baghdad.
"If I had the opportunity, I would go to Jordan to tell his relatives that Zarqawi is in no way a shahid (martyr), or a Muslim," Belaroussi said, referring to the terror leaders home country.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/10/2006 01:19 ||
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#1
Berg's widow just said on Fox how she doesn't understand his father's viewpoint. Said her family was from Sicily and she, and the family can not imagine forgiving somebody who killed a family member. Esp. a terrorist.
#3
It is said in the Gospel that man will leave his parents to join his wife. In other words the links between (loving) man and wife are more important than between him and his parents. She is tg*he one entitled to speak fopr Nicolas Berg not this bag of sh..t whose contribution was just a few minutes spent inseminating his mother.
#6
Radical Lefties including ANTI-AMERICAN AMERICANS want WAR, REVOLUTION, and ANARCHY for OWG within or against America-West wid out having to explain the merits of same to anybody, to include not even to explain why and how "the System/
Establishment" is unable or unwilling to correct itself. Gotta do better than that - PERENNIAL POLITICAL CORRECTNESS-NEUTRALISM, ETAL. MAY BE "SMART/GOOD POLITICS", BUT ITS NOT NECESSARILY GOOD LEADERSHIP, PERSONAL GROUP NATIONAL or ORGANIZATIONAL.
Ugandan government is to hold peace talks with its shadowy Lords Resistance Army rebel group (LRA) organized by Southern Sudanese government, Southern Sudanses leaders said Thursday. According to southern Sudan's semi-autonomous government president, an LRA delegation is in the regional capital, Juba.
Southern Sudan leader, Salva Kiir said a Ugandan government delegation is expected to join them, and the peace talks could start within a matter of days or hours. Meanwhile, Southern Sudan's Vice President Riek Machar met recently with LRA leader Joseph Kony, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said last month that he would guarantee Kony's safety if the rebel group stopped fighting by July. Meanwhile, members of the LRA have taken refuge in southern Sudan, where Mr. Kiir said today they have been raping women, looting and killing. LRA has committed several atrocities including kidnapping thousands of children and turning them into fighters and sex slaves.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Nice graphic, but I had no idea Cynthia McKinney had gone "country."
A leaked Metropolitan Police report, which allegedly concluded Muslim officers were more likely to become corrupt than their white counterparts, today sparked condemnation. The internal report, cited by the Guardian, aimed to investigate the level of complaints against ethnic police and apparently blamed cultural and family backgrounds for the difference.
The paper, written by an Asian officer, was said by the newspaper to have concluded: "Asian officers and in particular Pakistani Muslim officers are under greater pressure from the family, the extended family ... and their community against that of their white colleagues to engage in activity that might lead to misconduct or criminality."
It allegedly said there was a cash culture in British Pakistani life in which "assisting your extended family is considered a duty". In addition, it apparently recommended anti-corruption training for Asian officers.
#1
So bottom line is that some muslim Pakistani officers put their islamic laws and traditions ahead of British law.
Not that surprising. Disagreeing with conclusions doesn't make them wrong. Facts are facts. Objections sound like so many cats scratching in the litterbox.
In his first newspaper interview since being elected, Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari suggests this country should adopt more Islamic ways. Alice Thomson meets the new leader of Britain's Muslims
Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari was returning from Paris on the Eurostar when he heard the news that a 23-year-old east London Muslim had been shot in a terrorism raid. "I was stunned," he says. "I am chairman of the east London mosque and I come from Bangladesh - I know the families in the area well. The children may squabble in the playground and there are occasional drugs - but not terrorists.
"After 9/11 and 7/7, this area prided itself on being mature. We don't rant and rave."
The day after Mohammed Abul Kahar, 23, and his brother Abul Koyair, 20, were arrested, Dr Bari was voted the new leader of the Muslim Council of Britain. Afterwards he went straight to Forest Gate, where the raid had taken place, and set up a make-shift office in a sari shop. He was shocked by what he heard.
Continued on Page 49
#1
Muslim marriages tend to be more successful, more of a partnership.
"And if our wives disagree, we beat them, toss them out into the street, and get another. If our daughters misbehave, we send our youngest sons to slit their throats. Yes, Muslim marriages are much more successful."
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/10/2006 8:20 Comments ||
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Dr. Bari - could you arrange a marriage between me and Elizabeth Hurley?
#3
Raj: Considering what her boyfriend used to do, I wouldn't recommend walking on the same floor as Elizabeth Hurley until after it's been cleaned with bleach.
2. One of his favorite things about Britain is the food?
3. If Muslims are better than Brits at "earning money, working for it," how did Britain become the pinnacle of civilization, while the Islamic world remains a festering craphole of poverty?
Sheesh.
Posted by: ST ||
06/10/2006 14:39 Comments ||
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#4 i want my marriage too be arranged too that fine ass french news woman. can't think of her name though. please help
More than 100 Muslims protested angrily Friday over the controversial east London anti-terror raid, expressing fury at alleged police brutality and Government oppression of the Islamic community. The demonstrators, prime among them the outspoken Islamic figure Anjem Choudary, gathered outside Forest Gate police station to voice their anger over police tactics and what they claim is their deliberate targeting of ordinary Muslims, the organizers said. But the family of the two brothers arrested during last Friday's raid in Lansdown Road expressed their opposition to the demonstration today, urging the local community not to give it their support.
However, the protest continued as demonstrators waved placards emblazoned with a variety of anti-government and anti-police slogans, including "Stop police brutality," and "Blair: shoot first ask questions later." Orchestrated by the leaders of the demo, who took it in turn to address the protesters using a loud hailer, they chanted "British police go to hell" and used vile words against the British Prime Minister. Placards were waved and the chanting was forceful, but the demonstration was peaceful and there were no arrests, police said.
Many members of the area's Muslim community were clearly opposed to the protest, with some voicing their opposition and accusing the organizers of "making a bad situation even worse." As the chanting and placard waving outside the police station carried on loudly, just 100 yards away a cousin of the two brothers read a statement in which he said the protests would only serve to fuel the negative betrayal of the local community.
The cousin, who gave his name only as Enam, was speaking on behalf of Humeya Kalam, whose brothers Mohammed Abdul Kahar and Abul Koyair, are being questioned at London's high security Paddington Green police station. Urging people not to attend the protest, he said in the statement "This will only provide another opportunity for our community to be betrayed in a negative light. Consequently this will allow the police to inflict the same trauma that we have been through on another family."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2006 00:00 ||
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The Russian Foreign Ministry said Saturday it was shocked by comments from the United States ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, who accused the Russian leadership of being split over the Iranian nuclear issue.
The ministry said Moscow is actively involved in international efforts to solve the problem through diplomatic channels, and holds a unified position that Iran must not obtain nuclear weapons, while supporting the right of the country to develop peaceful nuclear power.
The statement said Russia was pleased with the "balanced and responsible announcements in recent days from American representatives in support of restarting the talks on Iran's nuclear program in the new format, which the United States recently expressed its willingness to join."
"In this context, the 'revelation' made by Mr Bolton on the alleged lack of consensus within the Russian leadership on the issue of the Iranian nuclear program is very unexpected," the Foreign Ministry said.
"Those in Washington who support finding a political-diplomatic solution, which we would hope includes John Bolton, need international support, including from Russia" the statement said.
#2
Now, what this stupid Russian is talking about?. He knows Iran will not stop the nuclear enrichment and will continue and make the bombs. So all the diplomatic stupidity he is talking about is to get US security assurance for Iran. All this diplomatic chit-chat is actually humiliating US. At the same time, Iran continues to increase political influence among Middle East nations.
#4
The ministry said Moscow is actively involved in international efforts to solve the problem through diplomatic channels ..... but if diplomacy fails comrades, we have 21 trucks ready to roll and bring back to mother Russia all of the materials which do not exist.
#5
RUSSIA = CHINA > the Radical Muslim enemy of America is NOT their friend [in long term]. The same Radic Islamist clock which Amer's enemies want to tick tick tick againt America-West also ticks ticks ticks against them and Global Secular Socialism-Absolutism, and EVRYONE KNOWS IT.
Americans face a possible terrorist threat in China, according to information received by the U.S. government, FOX News has learned. The unconfirmed information says U.S. interests in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou face the threat, and that risks also exist against Americans in other cities' restaurants, churches and schools.
The State Department issued an official message after information was received that American citizens could be in danger. "The embassy is looking further into the threat," said Sean McCormack, a spokesman for the State Department. "My understanding is it was a generalized threat against American interests, but especially in those three cities."
Americans are advised to be aware of their surroundings and be alert to possible threats. "It doesn't talk about people canceling travel or leaving. But it really counsels increased awareness in certain places, I think, in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai," McCormack said.
Visitors to China are encouraged register with the U.S. Embassy or U.S. Consulate through the State Department's travel registration Web site. The registration will give the government information about an upcoming visit to better assist in an emergency.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/10/2006 00:55 ||
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From Iran's official news agency
Renowned Italian reporter and writer Oriana Fallaci is summoned to attend a court hearing on upcoming Monday in Bergamo, a city in north of Italy, for having made discriminatory and insulting comments against Islam publicly. According to Italy's official news agency, ANSA, Fallaci has in her book "Power of Wisdom" insulted Islam openly in at least eighteen sentences.
Head of Italian Muslims Union Adel Smith who has filed the complaint against Fallaci has with his move created the background for controversial debate among supporters and opponents of Fallaci's racist ideas at Italy's political, judiciary, and journalist circles.
The Prosecutor General of Bergamo, Maria Christiania Rota, had for instance initially asked for filing Smith's complaint among the judiciary system's rejected files, but the city's Judge Armando Grasso has not yielded to her request based on articles of the Italian Constitution, and summoned Fallaci to court.
Adel Smith's previous move was launching a campaign against putting up crosses at public schools in Italy.
Fallaci has been adopting a strong anti-Islamic stand during the course of the past few decades, and had openly declared recently that if she would see the minaret of the newly constructed mosque in her neighborhood is completed she would blow it up relying on assistance of her friends.
TORONTO (CP) - The son of a suspected al-Qaida financier was free to re-apply for a Canadian passport Friday after a Federal Court judge ruled that Ottawa was wrong to deny Abdurahman Khadr's application two years ago on the basis of national security. But the win could be short-lived for Khadr, since the ruling by Justice Michael Phelan also made it clear that the federal government would be well within its rights to revoke the passport on those same grounds once it's granted.
That didn't stop Khadr and lawyer Clayton Ruby from denouncing the March 2004 decision by former foreign affairs minister Bill Graham to deny the application on the basis of a law that had not yet been passed. "Not bad for a dictatorship, not good enough for Canada," Ruby said. "The grounds on which (Graham) made (his decision) were expressed in no Canadian law that then existed, namely national security grounds."
Ruby said he's confident Khadr's new application will be approved - and he vowed to head back to court if Ottawa tries to take it away again. "The passport is to be issued under the law as it then was, that's the court order," said Ruby. "If you want to revoke it later, go ahead but do it openly."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2006 00:00 ||
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President Bush said Friday the elimination of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi "helps a lot" with security problems in Iraq but won't bring an end to the war. He also said it was unclear when Iraqi security forces could take control and let U.S. troops go home.
Bush declined to embrace the goal set by the new prime minister for Iraqi forces to take responsibility for security throughout the country within 18 months.
"We'll get a realistic appraisal about the capacity for standing up Iraqi troops as this new government begins to function as a government," the president said.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/10/2006 00:16 ||
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#1
I want the "wanted dead or alive" Bush. Laura must be reining George in, damn it.
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/10/2006 0:19 Comments ||
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional Republicans killed a provision in an Iraq war funding bill that would have put the United States on record against the permanent basing of U.S. military facilities in that country, a lawmaker and congressional aides said on Friday.
The $94.5 billion emergency spending bill, which includes $65.8 billion to continue waging wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is expected to be approved by Congress next week and sent to President George W. Bush for signing into law.
As originally passed by the House of Representatives, the Pentagon would have been prohibited from spending any of the funds for entering into a military basing rights agreement with Iraq. A similar amendment passed by the Senate said the Pentagon could not use the next round of war funding to "establish permanent United States military bases in Iraq, or to exercise United States control over the oil infrastructure or oil resources of Iraq."
This was nonsense all along; of couse we're going to have long-term bases in Iraq.
The Bush administration has said it does not want to place any artificial timelines on a U.S. presence in Iraq and that it wants to begin withdrawing troops when Iraqi security forces are better able to protect the country. But it has not ruled out permanent bases in Iraq.
While the Pentagon does not necessarily plan to use any of the emergency funds to establish a permanent military presence in Iraq, congressional Democrats wanted Congress to be on record against such a long-term military arrangement. Doing so, they argued, could help overcome Middle East fears that the United States intended to control the region militarily, at least in part to oversee foreign oil reserves. "The perception that the U.S. intends to occupy Iraq indefinitely is fueling the insurgency and making our troops more vulnerable," said Rep. Barbara Lee, a California Democrat who won House approval of her amendment on permanent bases.
Idiot. What's fueling this is a clash of cultures, not oil. Whether we're there one year or twenty, we'll be fighting Islamicists, and I'd rather do it over there than here.
"The House and Senate went on record opposing permanent bases, but now the Republicans are trying to sneak them back in the middle of the night," Lee said.
Senate aides said Republican staffers removed the provisions from the bills before House and Senate negotiators convened this week in a late-night work session to write a compromise spending bill. Wisconsin Rep. David Obey, the senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, tried to reinsert the language, but it was opposed by Rep. Jim Kolbe, the Arizona Republican responsible for foreign affairs portions of the spending bill.
Next week, the House is scheduled to have a wide-ranging debate about the Iraq war at which time Democrats are likely to raise this issue again.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/10/2006 23:20 ||
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Rugs and other household items from the last safe house of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi are visible amidst rubble in Hibhib, Iraq June 8, 2006. Zarqawi was accompanied by women who wore skimpy night clothing, and read magazines on current affairs and militant propaganda, an inspection of the house he was killed in showed on Saturday.
#1
The U.S. military had said the air strike killed a total of six people, three males and three females.
I was hoping the airstrike also got all 3 of Zman's breeding stock. The 8 year old seems a bit young, but wasn't for Old Mo ... Now to go into Zarka and end his blood line.
Posted by: ed ||
06/10/2006 16:21 Comments ||
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Army said Friday it surpassed its recruiting goal for May, marking the 12th consecutive month of meeting or exceeding its target. The regular Army signed up 5,806 new recruits last month, compared with its target of 5,400, and the Army National Guard and Army Reserve also exceeded their May goals, according to statistics released by the Pentagon.
Nonetheless, eight months into its budget year, the active Army is barely beyond the halfway mark of recruiting its goal of 80,000 new soldiers. Through May it had signed up 42,859, meaning that in the final four months of the period it will have to enlist an average of nearly 9,300 per month to reach the 80,000 target. Last year, the only month the active Army came close to signing up 9,300 in a single month was August, when it got 9,452.
The Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps also met their May recruiting goals, the Pentagon said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/10/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
America is blessed
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/10/2006 0:18 Comments ||
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#2
This got buried in the MSM -- can't imagine why.
The MSM is trying to prove that although you can't fool all of the people all of the time, you can at least try to fool 48% of them all of the time. Whoops, did I say that out loud? :-)
Posted by: grb ||
06/10/2006 1:11 Comments ||
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#3
The MSM asshats are just going to have to try harder.
GUWAHATI: Nagaland separatists have agreed to hold regular monthly peace talks with the Indian government starting June 22 in Amsterdam to try to strike a peace deal, a rebel leader said on Friday. The National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM), led by self-exiled guerrilla leaders Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah, has struggled for nearly six decades to create a 'Greater Nagaland' to expand the mountainous Nagaland state in India's remote northeast. "We have reached an understanding to hold talks with the government at least once in a month to speed up the peace process and find a permanent solution to our problem," RH Raising, a senior NSCN-IM leader, told AFP by telephone from Dimapur, Nagaland's commercial hub. "The next round of talks on June 22 would discuss several key issues, including our main demand for integration." The last round of negotiations took place in Amsterdam on May 19 and 20. The NSCN-IM and New Delhi entered into a ceasefire in August 1997, which has been renewed regularly. The latest truce expires on July 31.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2006 00:00 ||
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Life remained paralysed in the Kashmir Valley and Muslim majority areas of Jammu region on Friday due to a daylong general strike called by the breakaway Hurriyat Conference against the arrest of its chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Shops and business establishments were closed and traffic was off the roads. Work in government offices including the secretariat and semi government offices was also affected due to the strike. The educational institutions wore a deserted look.
Geelani was arrested when he was heading for Poonch to address a public meeting and later moved to a Jammu jail after a local court remanded him in police custody until June 29. He was charged with sedition by a court in Poonch five years after an arrest warrant was issued against him for "inciting people against the Indian state and triggering communalism while making a series of provocative speeches" in 2001.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2006 00:00 ||
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This is one of those rare public admissions of what everybody knows but nobody mentions...
The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) pledged on Friday that it would continue supporting a Taliban government in Afghanistan, as it did in the past.
Support includes cannon fodder, cash, support facilities, and safe havens.
We have been supporting the Taliban government and will continue doing so. Those (treasury members) who are opposing them now will also support them in future but they will not be in power by that time, said Dr Attaur Rehman, an MMA member in his speech in the National Assembly. He was responding to a challenge by Sheikh Waqas, a treasury member, who in his speech asked opposition parties to publicly announce if they can support Taliban.
"Support them? Hell, we are them!"
MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmed, in his speech, criticised government policies and said that the rights of the smaller provinces were being usurped. He said the concentration of power in one hand was the root cause of all problems the country was facing. We can join hands with any political force to bring a genuine democracy to the country. We can work with the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy for this purpose, Qazi said. He dispelled the impression that the MMA was facing a rift, claiming that the religious parties alliance was intact. He claimed that he had no differences with Maulana Fazalur Rehman, the chief of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl.
"No, no! No differences at all!"
Qazi said that despite the governments policy to act as a frontline state for the United States war on terrorism, the US administration did not trust Pakistan. It is unfortunate that US officials are now giving computer training to Pakistani parliamentarians, he added.
I have no idea what that has to do with anything. Qazi might not, either.
He said that corruption and commission-culture was posing a serious threat to the countrys economy. Despite a verdict by the Supreme Court, the interest system has not been abolished, he said. He added that the implementation of an interest-free financial system was imperative for real economic progress. He said that accelerated efforts were required to overcome poverty and improve socio-economic condition of the common man.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
That Breeze dishtowel really stands out, don't it?
What is truly amazing about all of this is that this is Pincus and even he isn't trying to deny that Zarqawi was in Baghdad in 2002.
From the moment President Bush introduced him to the American people in October 2002, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi served a crucial purpose for the administration, providing a tangible focus for its insistence that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist network responsible for the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
After the invasion that toppled Hussein, and the subsequent rise of the insurgency against occupying U.S. forces, Zarqawi's presence in Iraq was cited as proof that the uprising was fomented by al-Qaeda-backed "foreign fighters."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/10/2006 00:59 ||
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#1
Sorry, that headline should read "fought propaganda war with Zarqawi in Iraq."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/10/2006 1:03 Comments ||
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#2
All part of the liberal dribble. Bush invented Zarq and "magnified" his image, blah, blah, blah
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/10/2006 7:32 Comments ||
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#3
Oh, and it's Bush's fault.
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/10/2006 7:33 Comments ||
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Poor little liberal bastards. This is a big blow to them. They had put so much hope in the failure of Iraq. So much for them to feel bad about these days: Sadaam deposed and humiliated and then the country has successful elections and goes democratic! But now the great liberal hope that Zarqawi could kill enough innocent people to destroy our will and send our troops home in disgrace has been dealt a mortal blow. It's been a difficult week for liberals.
An Iraqi customs agent secretly working with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror cell spilled the beans on the group after he was arrested, Jordanian officials tell ABC News. Ziad Khalaf Raja al-Karbouly was arrested by Jordanian intelligence forces last spring.
Officials say Karbouly confessed to his role in the terror cell and provided crucial information on the names of Zarqawi commanders and locations of their safe houses. Karbouly also admitted to his role in the kidnappings of two Moroccan embassy employees, four Iraqi National Guards and an Iraqi finance ministry official. In a videotaped confession, Karbouly said he acted on direct orders from Zarqawi.
Officials say he will not be eligible for any of the $25 million reward money.
As Brian Ross reported this morning, the super-secret Task Force 145 does deserve the recognition for Wednesday's capture.
By the time two American jet fighters were called in to drop their 500 pound bombs, General George Casey was certain Zarqawi was in the house, and there was no thought of trying to capture him alive. "Because the only means that could be applied in a timely fashion was the attack by air power and that was decided by General Casey as the right thing to do," U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad told ABC News.
While Zarqawi's al Qaeda group has been decimated, it is only one of 14 major insurgent groups operating in Iraq. "Different groups that operate independently and are not controlled by al Zarqawi, they don't need him, and they will continue their attacks in the long term," said Sajjan Gohel, an International Security Expert at the Asia-Pacific Foundation.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/10/2006 00:41 ||
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"...no thought of trying to capture him alive."
Muhammad Ismael, a 40- year-old Iraqi taxi driver, was standing outside his home in the tiny village of Hibhib on Wednesday evening when something unusual caught his eye. Three GMC trucks, each with blackened windows, rumbled past his home and toward the little house in a nearby grove of date palms that for more than three years had stood abandoned. "It was something very strange," Ismael said in a telephone interview a day later. "That house is always empty."
Meanwhile, in Baghdad, U.S. military commanders believed they had at last cornered Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian terrorist whose murderous onslaught against Iraqi civilians and U.S. troops made him the most wanted man in all of Iraq. For the first time, the U.S. officials said they had a source deep inside his terrorist group. Zarqawi, the source told them, was in the little house in the palm grove.
U.S. jets were in the sky above.
In recent weeks, U.S. officials said, they had begun following a man who they believed could lead them directly to Zarqawi: his "spiritual adviser," a man named Sheikh Abd al-Rahman. A member of Zarqawi's network, captured by the Americans, had told them that the sheik was Zarqawi's most trusted adviser.
#2
This part is driving me nuts: "... According to a Pentagon officia l... The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the raid are classified, said that ..."
Subpoena the IHT, to identify, summarily try, and execute the "official", journalist and editors for treason now!
#3
This may well be part of war time propaganda. Given the 'love' between spotlight personalities of the thugs, the compartmentalization of cells, and the general distrust that has to be enforced for security, tossing this bit which we know they're going to read because MSM just has to scoop, gossip, and pontificate, will indeed make life interest. Keep them off balance with quick raids based upon the intel taken at the site and throw discord among the organization. Keep kicking it while its stunned.
With the demise of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al Qaeda will be looking for a new sales approach in its worldwide fundraising campaigns. Al-Zarqawi had become a key part of al Qaeda's marketing: He was a terror operator who stole headlines with jarring, gruesome attacks carried out by a network of foreign and Iraqi fighters. For more than three years, he evaded an international manhunt.
Counterterrorism officials have said al-Zarqawi served as a worldwide jihadist rallying point and a fundraising icon. "The terrorist celeb, if you will," said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., a former FBI agent who serves on the House Intelligence Committee. "It is like selling for any organization. They are selling the success of Zarqawi in eluding capture in Iraq."
Some intelligence operatives suggest al Qaeda is glad al-Zarqawi is dead because he was a divisive figure who attacked Shiites and was generally unpopular, reports CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer. Al Qaeda may put someone in place who can get along better with Sunni insurgents and form a united front, which would spell more attacks against the coalition and the Iraqi government, whom they regard as stooges of the American government, Palmer adds.
The House Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, Rep. Jane Harman of California, said: "Even though he was the al Qaeda leader in Iraq, the threats around the world will not diminish because he is not there."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/10/2006 00:38 ||
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Look, heres the problem for AQ. Their leadership structure is one way or another a personality based organization. Charisma and personality cult, whether it is OBL or the Zman, is the core of assembling and keeping together these packs. Groups outside the range of direct influence which operated before Iraq will continue to operate. They have their local personalities. However, those personalities only have local appeal. Further the big organizations lack depth. When a big man is taken out, there usually is very limited replacements available. While smaller organizational structures can continue to operate, they also become more vulnerable as the resources which grew in size and effectiveness to take out the Big Guy are now aligned to focus on them. Generally, Great Man organizations are not inherently sustainable. Democratic organizations generally are because by its very nature, it is expected that leaders will be replaced by the nature of the system.
It won't be easy to replace Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as the public face of the Iraqi insurgency. He instigated sectarian warfare, used the media masterfully and lured scores of volunteer suicide bombers.
No other Islamic militant operating in Iraq may be able to fill all those roles. Yet al-Zarqawi's death in a U.S. air raid Wednesday leaves a question that is likely to nag U.S. and Iraqi officials for weeks, or even months: Who is going to be Iraq's new Public Enemy No. 1?
U.S. commanders insist that a foreigner most likely would replace al-Zarqawi, who was Jordanian. But Arab analysts argue that his successor is going to be an Iraqi, to mend a rift between the foreign militants who form the backbone of al-Zarqawi's group -- al-Qaida in Iraq -- and the Iraqi Sunnis who make up other segments of the insurgency.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/10/2006 00:10 ||
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#1
Sounds like the new season of "Survivor" is out early.
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/10/2006 0:21 Comments ||
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The Iraqi government will focus on rebuilding infrastructure, healing sectarian divisions and bolstering the security forces in order to stabilise the country, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in an article published Friday.
Maliki announced his three-point strategy in a column in The Times, a day after he announced the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Al Qaeda leader in Iraq, and the completion of the government formed after December's elections. "The completion of the national unity government (Thursday) in Iraq marks the starting point for repaying Iraqis' commitment to and thirst for democracy," Maliki wrote in a column in The Times of London. "This government will build on the additional momentum gained from the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi to defeat terrorism and sectarianism, and to deliver on the Iraqi people's hope of a united, stable and prosperous democracy," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Make it so, and hurry
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/10/2006 0:22 Comments ||
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Small children ran around the dusty streets of Zarqa on Friday shouting, "Infidels deserve to die!" and "He's a hero! A martyr!" Men gathered beneath a tent and women met inside a small house during the azza, the traditional gathering that takes place after a death.
There were no tears, no somber remembrances, just a few angry speeches declaring that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was chosen by God to fight for Islam, and making one request: His family would like his body so it can be buried in a family plot.
Mr. Zarqawi's brothers and sisters insisted this was a celebration for a loved one they deeply admired. "Welcome to the celebration of the martyr, the hero, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi," read a hand-painted banner hanging from the front of the tent set up for the men.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/10/2006 00:53 ||
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"Zarqa celebrates the "martyrdom" of Zarqawi"
If y'all like it so much, we could arrange it for the rest of you, too....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/10/2006 12:50 Comments ||
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Israeli naval gunboats killed at least 10 Palestinian civilians yesterday and wounded about 40 others who were relaxing in the summer heat on a northern Gaza beach. Palestinian medical sources reported that the shelling wiped out the entire Ghalia family, including four children aged one, two, three and seven.
The military wing of Hamas responded by ending the fragile ceasefire it has maintained for the past 16 months. "We are going back to work, to fight," it said in a press statement. "The earth will shake in the Zionist cities. The only choice for these settlers will be to pack up and leave." Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, condemned the killings as a "bloody massacre", but the Hamas political leadership was slow to endorse its military wing's announcement.
Lt-Gen Dan Halutz, the Israeli Chief of Staff, suspended the shelling from land and sea, which had continued throughout the day in retaliation for Palestinian rocket fire into the Negev. Four rockets fell there yesterday, damaging property but causing no casualties. The army apologised for the incident, saying it "regretted the strike on innocent people". Maj-Gen Yoav Galant, the chief of southern command, ordered an investigation. "It is not our intention to harm innocent civilians," he said. One possibility, he suggested, was that a shell had strayed from its
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2006 00:00 ||
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What? The Paleos and MSM don't wanna mention the bombs flying into Israel for some reason.
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/10/2006 0:24 Comments ||
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"Death to Israel for attacking our innocent civilian human shields by accident once!"
Note: If you see rockets flying over your head towards Israel and you didn't fire them, run away. If you were the one who fired them, just stay put for a while.
Posted by: grb ||
06/10/2006 1:19 Comments ||
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I still think there is a possibility of a beachcombing accident. Don't poke the "duds" or try and take them home.
The ruling Palestinian faction Hamas on Friday denied issuing a statement mourning the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, but hailed him as a symbol of resistance to occupation. Reuters received a statement on Thursday saying that Hamas mourned Zarqawi, killed in a strike north of Baghdad by US warplanes on Wednesday. Sami Abu-Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said on Friday that "Hamas did not issue any statement in this regard." He also said that Hamas "reiterates its supportive position to all liberation movements and foremost the Iraqi liberation movement, for which Zarqawi was one of the symbols in the face of the American occupation."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2006 00:00 ||
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The retraction smells like money motive
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/10/2006 0:24 Comments ||
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Have Zark stuffed and mounted and sent to Sami...
A new report from a U.N. team probing the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister will make no new revelations and will ask for another year to keep working, U.N. diplomats said Friday.
The report from Belgian prosecutor Serge Brammertz's investigators will note that Syria which had been accused of obstructing the probe has cooperated in some respects, the diplomats said.
Some senior-level Syrian officials have been implicated in the Feb. 14, 2005 bombing that killed Rafik Hariri and 22 others, they said.
The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because Brammertz' report has not been made public. It is expected to be delivered to Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the Security Council on Saturday.
Earlier reports from the team investigating Hariri's death have implicated Brig. Gen. Assaf Shawkat, Syria's military intelligence chief and the brother-in-law of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Four top Lebanese generals key figures in Syria's domination of Lebanon have been arrested and charged with playing a role the killing.
The diplomats said that Brammertz' latest report will view Syria more favorably than earlier ones, mostly because Syrian President Bashar Assad finally agreed to be interviewed by Brammertz in April after twice declining.
Brammertz was expected to brief the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, a day before his commission's mandate expires. The council will consider extending his mandate by six months, as it has done previously, or accede to the longer, one-year request.
France will back his request for a year long extension, a French diplomat said, also on condition of anonymity.
Other ambassadors have not made their position clear, though U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said in a speech in London Thursday that the United States wanted to give Brammertz all the time he needs.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/10/2006 03:07 ||
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European Union president Austria said on Friday Iran has until the Group of Eight (G8) summit in July to consider an offer of incentives to suspend its nuclear enrichment program.
The offer, which EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana personally delivered to Tehran earlier this week, was prepared by Germany, France and Britain and is backed by the EU, United States, Russia and China.
Asked what would happen if Iran did not accept the offer, Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: "This will be discussed within the framework of the G8. Iran has until the world economic summit in July to think it over."
President Bush said on Friday Iran "has weeks, not months" to respond to the proposal.
His comments represent the first clear deadline for Iran to respond to the offer. Originally, Russia and Germany had said they expected Iran to respond by the end of this month.
U.S. officials have said they expected an answer from Iran by the time of the summit, though have avoided making it a hard-and-fast deadline.
The G8 summit will be held in St. Petersburg, Russia on July 15-17 and Iran's nuclear ambitions is expected to be one of the main topics of discussion.
Tehran says it wants only to produce low-enriched uranium to generate electricity. But many countries suspect Iran, the world's fourth-biggest oil producer, seeks to purify uranium to the extremely high levels needed to fuel atomic weapons.
A powerful Iranian cleric used Friday prayers to send a clear message to the six world powers that prepared the offer -- that they will never stop Iran from making nuclear fuel.
"Now they want to deprive us of many advantages. The package they have brought is a package that is good for themselves and is not appropriate for the Iranian people," Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati told worshippers in Tehran.
Jannati heads the Guardian Council, Iran's highest constitutional watchdog. The council does not directly make nuclear policy, a task Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has entrusted to the Supreme National Security Council.
The latest report by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), released on Thursday, appeared to give credence to Jannati's comments.
The IAEA said Iran had this week launched a fresh round of uranium enrichment, a process that can produce fuel for power plants or bombs, just as Solana delivered the offer. He did not set any deadline for a response.
But European and U.S. officials have made it clear they would not wait months for Iran to respond to the offer of civilian nuclear technology, security guarantees and other benefits if Iran freezes nuclear fuel production.
The offer also threatens Iran with economic and political sanctions if it rejects the offer.
"There is a chance now with the way things have changed in the past couple of weeks to get a diplomatic solution and that's what everyone wants to see," British Prime Minister Tony Blair said at a news conference in Paris with French President Jacques Chirac.
Chirac said the Islamic republic would not be allowed to develop the bomb: "We can't accept that it carries out a process that could in reality lead to the creation of a nuclear weapon."
Schuessel said Iran had an obligation to demonstrate that its nuclear ambitions were peaceful as it said they were.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/10/2006 02:57 ||
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Well, no, the deadline is July 8
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/10/2006 7:35 Comments ||
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Time is running out for the diplomatic effort to resolve the dispute over Irans nuclear programme and Washington has no intention of striking a comprehensive grand bargain with Tehran, the USs ambassador to the United Nations has warned.
Speaking to the Financial Times, John Bolton made clear many of his reservations about the current outreach to Iran, which Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, has persuaded President George W. Bush to endorse.
Referring to a report by the United Nations nuclear watchdog that Iran has stepped up uranium enrichment a process that can create both nuclear fuel and weapons grade material Mr Bolton said: Theyve got both feet on the accelerator, which is why we have a sense of urgency that these diplomatic efforts cant continue indefinitely . . . Each day that goes by gives Iran more time to continue to perfect its efforts for mass production.
While Iran insists that its nuclear programme is a purely peaceful attempt to bolster the countrys energy security, the US and the European Union suspect Tehran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons.
But Russia and China have repeatedly made clear their doubts about sanctions against Tehran, pushing Washington instead to back a new package of incentives to Iran, which would give the Islamic republic help in a number of areas, including in constructing nuclear reactors.
The US has also agreed to join the negotiations with Iran, if Tehran suspends enrichment.
Mr Bolton, who describes himself as not much a carrots man, was quick to play down expectations of a dramatic breakthrough and highlighted many of the problems facing the diplomatic process.
It would be a mistake to think these negotiations are a first step towards some kind of grand bargain [involving US recognition], he said. We are only addressing the nuclear issue and stopping their pursuit of nuclear weapons.
He said US security guarantees for Iran were not on the table, and argued instead that regime change could remove a nuclear threat: Our experience has been that when there is a dramatic change in the life of a country, thats the most likely point at which they give up nuclear weapons.
He added: I think there will certainly be discussion of the question at the G8 summit on July 15-17, by which time he said Iran had to make its response to the offer known.
Some people thought for three years they [Iran] wanted to do a deal and theres no deal out there, at least no deal that theyve adhered to, he said. Maybe the deal that they want is the best of both worlds.
Mr Bolton also voiced doubts that International Atomic Energy Agency inspections would be able to prove that Irans programme was purely peaceful, and said that sanctions against Iran if it declined the offer were a step in the process. But he also conceded that he could not predict whether the Security Council would back such a measure.
He said the EU, which conducted negotiations with Iran from 2003, had been embarrassed by a declaration by a former Iranian official that during that time the Islamic republic had worked on nuclear techniques.
It shows why even as they sit contemplating this recent offer theyre still spinning centrifuges and now theyre putting gas in them, he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/10/2006 01:08 ||
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Finally, we have a UN rep who publicly calls a spade a spade. No mincing, no flinching, no diplomatic two-step.
Iran's president said Thursday his regime is ready for talks over its nuclear capabilities, but he sent mixed signals on how much is open for negotiation and suggested Tehran has the upper hand in its showdown with the West.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeated Iran's position that uranium enrichment is an untouchable national right, a clear jab at the West two days after Iran received a package of economic and technological incentives to suspend the program.
But he also offered some signs of flexibility without specifically mentioning the proposal. In a speech at an industrial city, he said Iran would hold dialogue on "mutual concerns" with foreign powers including the United States if they took place "free from threats."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/10/2006 00:18 ||
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#1
Dubya isn't Clinton, Moud - Clinton didn't want geopol issues, etal. making his resume look bad, nor to interfere wid MSM-verified pre- and post-Bush1 Reagan-Repub expandng economy = Democrats and Leftism-Socialism, once before and forever unto eternity!? Billary-Left > the DemoLeft doesn't have to prove itself anymore and nevermore ergo Socialism and OWG was "justified" for both America + World, ergo Radical Islam and 9-11. The Commies-Maoists supported the Spetzlamists and aligned Terror both before and after 9-11, even now, ergo only the Radical Islamists attacked Amer on 9-11 - you know, LOGIC!?
#2
I think the government there is concerned about a revolt. Anything that they can point to as a win, or anything they can spin to look like a win, and they will be on it like white on rice to boost their "legitimacy". And if that doesn't work, you can hold a nuke over the masses heads, too . . . .
Posted by: grb ||
06/10/2006 1:04 Comments ||
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#3
Folks, we are in a mess. Arent we? Do not blame our past government. The present one can not help us for we bought our mess and we can get out of it if we stop bickering. For example, any thought of buying American made has completely vanished from our brain. This made China the master of our economy. We became dependent on foreign oil. This made Iran to humiliate us and laugh at us every time we blink. If we continue to blink, Iran will have nuclear boms and then Iran will make us a spineless beggar not too far in the future. This is a very different kind of war we are in. The first step for us is to become energy independent as soon as possible. We use a huge amount of energy. Let us get thousands of nuclear power plants operating within 4 to 5 years for electricity and plenty of bio-fuel/electricity for the vehicles. Nuclear energy could become very cheap if we get rid of miles of stupid restrictions. Folks, we know radiation more than what may happen when you touch soil or natural water. It is simply because radiation screams too loud. The wind and solar energy will help a little bit but you can not beat the laws of nature. Just get energy independence from the foreign oil and stand tall.
#4
Right Anon. Just remember that even though the Reps "control" the Congress, nearly the entire continental shelf, east and west coast, is off limits to drill for oil we know is there. Like most peoples, we have seen the problem and it is ourselves.
The only real threat the Iranians have is to provide a device small enough to container ship into the US. And that is still a couple years away. The Iranians are rushing against the clock, not against the US or even outside world, but against an internal collapse. They have their own problems. Their own people hate them and they know it. A good part of this is the rulers trying to divert their problems. They want to be provoked by actions to invoke nationalism to resolidify their power. Time is really on our side. Remember we faced off with better equiped Russians for generations. And as to their proclaimed willingness to martyrdom, notice its always the followers, never the leaders that get it. When the Chinese lacked the ability to respond in kind, they kept talking about how they could absorb millions and millions of casualties and still be a force to reckon with. Of course there would have been very little of the party structure left to retain power and they knew it was a bluff all along. The object was to convince everyone else into believing the bluff.
And the Chinese have their problems too. The Party has yet to deal with a historical major recession that all growing economies face. That is really going to be 'interesting times'. We may will witness another cyclic collapse into multiple kingdoms from the current dynasty.
#5
Sounds like Ahmaneedastraightjacket's not listening to his military advisors or the ones he is listening to are givving him advice from Jimmy Carter.
So, Iran has the upper hand here, eh? Ya'll say you've got the US over a barrel, eh?
Well, see, ya'll have got this teensy little problem - look. Up there. See's all them airplanes? Ours fly. Yours don't (or won;t if we don't want 'em to). If ya'll would look a little higher ya' might sees a few satellites up there in space. 'Course, them there satellites are lookin' right back at 'cha. And they've got all your major (and minor) weapons sites, your nuclear facilities, your electrical generating plants, your refinieries, your production facilities, and just about everything except maybe your tonenail clippings spotted, mapped out, and loaded into the GPS systems of every weapon system of ours from 250-lb bombs on up to nuclear tipped ICBMs - just in case.
Got us over the barrel, have you, eh? Guess what, kiddies - we already have the bomb. In fact, the latest estimate is that we have about 30 thousand of them. We can put a good hundred nuclear bombs on top of your entire friggin' country inside of 15 minutes if we want to and we can deliver over a thousand more 15 minutes after that.
So, Ahmaneedastraightjacket, you better be thinkin' real clear before you take another couple of steps over that line in the sand or you're gonna' be left standin' in a sea of glowing glass and fused sand if you're not real damn careful. The mood over here is gettin' ugly, boy, and you better recognize the fact that makin' us angry is somethin' you just don't wanna' do...we're not real pleasant people when we're angry - other people tend to get real dead around us when that happens.
Understand? Good. Now go play with yourself like a good little boy and leave the grownups alone.
SAINT PETERSBURG - Japans Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki said he had discussed possible sanctions against Iran with US Treasury Secretary John Snow at talks here on Friday. With regard to Iran we discussed the taking of some financial measures against them, Tanigaki said after talks with Snow during a meeting of G8 finance ministers. Perhaps the United States needs to talk more with Europe as to what measures can be taken against Iran ... It needs to be debated, he told reporters after the meeting with Snow.
Please don't suggest a debate to the Euros, they'll take us up on it.
Japan has previously voiced caution about imposing sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme. Tanigaki and Snow were in Saint Petersburg for a meeting of Group of Eight (G8) finance ministers that was to continue into Saturday.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/10/2006 00:00 ||
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While you're at it, put together a similar package against the UN, would you? Thaaaaaanks, we'd really appreciate that . . . .
Posted by: grb ||
06/10/2006 1:07 Comments ||
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They are second-generation immigrants allegedly trained in the violent art of jihad.
They are suburban young people accused of renting a storage facility to keep ammonium-nitrate fertilizer to be used to make a spectacular hit against the Western society they despise.
Their plans were foiled by police and intelligence agents who spent months recording their every move before swooping down to make arrests just as the alleged plot reached fruition. And along the way, there has been blundering of comical proportions.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/10/2006 01:06 ||
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Of course there are similarities. The entire problem is Islam. Wherever there are mosques, there are problems. We need to rid western societies of mosques and muslims. These problems would magically disappear. We just need to stop listening to the PC lefties who are perfectly willing to destroy our entire culture and society. These very fools would be the first slaughtered by the Islamos, because it's obvious that they are the weakest. Animals always attack the weakest first. Easy kills.
#2
To once again paraphrase actress ANNETTE BENNING in movie THE SIEGE, "THEY [MUSLIMS} HAVE NO POWER LIKE THE CHRISTIAN NATIONS" - large part of the raeson for the existence of Radical Islam, and as applicable to contemporay Islam in general, can be summed up in that Hollyweird sentence. Iff memory is correct, I believe it was MadMoud himself whom argued that Islam needed a leader from God himself to lead Islam to its destiny, or words to that effect. IFF THE "DEATH" OF ZARKEY + NORWAY METEOR IS ANY EXAMPLE-TEST FOR A POTENS MUSLIM MESSIAH = MESSENGER/SERVANT OF GOD, OSAMA T'AINT HIM. THe Failed/ANgry Left, not even God-based Lefties-Bolsheviks like Radical Islam, cannot argue that "MAN IS GOD/MAN MUST CONTROL GOD-UNIVERSE" and then when s*** hits the fan call for the real God to save their desperate behinds.
Al-Qaida's No. 2 praised Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in a videotape broadcast Friday but did not mention his death in a U.S. airstrike, suggesting the tape was made earlier. Ayman al-Zawahri focused on political developments in the Palestinian territories, Sudan and Egypt in the tape broadcast by the Al-Jazeera network. It mentions a national referendum proposed on May 25 by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
"My fellow Ummahans..."
An Al-Jazeera anchorman said the tape was made before al-Zarqawi's death was announced Thursday because al-Zawahri praised the al-Qaida in Iraq leader's efforts to confront U.S.-led forces in Iraq. "God bless the prophet of Islam in Iraq, the persistent hero of Islam, the Holy Warrior Abu Musab al-Zarqawi," al-Zawahri said.
"May Allan's blessings shower down upon you from the heavens, O mighty Lion..."
He also sent greetings to the Shura Council of Mujahedeen in Iraq and insurgents, "who are confronting crusaders and their apostate aides and the merchants of religion." The network did not say how it obtained the recording. It broadcast about six minutes of the approximately 17 minute-long recording, an editor there told The Associated Press. The authenticity of the tape could not immediately be confirmed independently.
The bearded al-Zawahri wore a white turban and tunic, and sat before a black background with an automatic weapon propped behind his right shoulder. He repeatedly waved his right hand and pointed his finger in a gesture of admonishment. The al-Qaida deputy leader criticized a proposed national referendum in the Palestinian territories on establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel, giving recognition to the Jewish state. "I call on Muslims to reject any referendum on Palestine, because Palestine is part of the Islamic world and not subject to any compromise. By the powers vested in my bejewelled turban, I call upon Muslims everywhere to support the brothers in Palestine," he said, mentioning armed Islamist militants, prisoners and their families. But he did not mention the Islamic militant group Hamas as he did in an earlier tape criticizing it for participating in Palestinian elections. Hamas won those parliamentary elections and now leads the government. Al-Zawahri also lashed out at the United States and Israel, accusing them of trying to make the Palestinian people "kneel down and to give up to the supreme powers that are trying to impose the Israeli entity on the lands of Islam through the military occupation and the betrayal of the Arab leaders." He said an example of that Arab "betrayal" was the peace initiative adopted by Arab states in 2002. He also criticized Arab leaders for not providing financial support for the Palestinian people, blaming President Bush for Western countries' decisions to freeze aid to the Palestinians after the election of Hamas. "The Arab leaders didn't have the courage to meet the Palestinians' needs for one month because the Caesar of Washington gave orders to make the Palestinians starve by besieging them," he said, referring to the suspension of most aid by Western countries to the territories after Hamas won the elections.
Al-Zawahri also commented on developments in Sudan's Darfur region, criticizing a recent visit by U.N. Security Council experts as being "to prepare to occupy and divide it."
This guy sure keeps up with the morning news. He must read the Rantburg Defender-Scimitar...for the articles, of course.
"I call upon every Muslim and everyone who has faith in Sudan, and every fervent Muslim in Darfur to confront the Zionist Crusader plot to occupy the lands of Islam," he said. Al-Zawahri then lashed out at Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, accusing him of inaction in the face of the "plot" to divide Sudan "for the sake of keeping his position as a ruler."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/10/2006 00:19 ||
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#1
Another day, another rant.
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/10/2006 0:26 Comments ||
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#2
Shorter Zawahiri: Great martyrdom, Zarq: good for you! No, I mean it's really good for YOU, but I'll just stay right where I am, thanks.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Al Qaeda number-two 
ISLAMIST militiamen fired into the air to disperse hundreds of Somalis protesting early today against moves by sharia courts to stop them watching the World Cup in the capital Mogadishu. The soccer tournament had drawn huge crowds to television screens set up under trees and iron-sheeted shacks, providing some escape from the tension that has gripped Mogadishu since Islamists seized control from an alliance of warlords on Monday.
Yusuf Mohamed Siad known as Indha-ade, the chairman of self styled authority in lower Shabelle region in southern Somalia, who has been several months in Mogadishu for enforcing the Islamic militiamen, has announced late on Thursday an Islamic court in Bulo-Hubey village of Wadajir district in southwest of the capital where Islamic fighters took over its control from warlords of anti terror alliance early this week. 
More than 100 Muslims protested angrily Friday over the controversial east London anti-terror raid, expressing fury at alleged police brutality and Government oppression of the Islamic community. The demonstrators, prime among them the outspoken Islamic figure Anjem Choudary, gathered outside Forest Gate police station to voice their anger over police tactics and what they claim is their deliberate targeting of ordinary Muslims, the organizers said. But the family of the two brothers arrested during last Friday's raid in Lansdown Road expressed their opposition to the demonstration today, urging the local community not to give it their support.
TORONTO (CP) - The son of a suspected al-Qaida financier was free to re-apply for a Canadian passport Friday after a Federal Court judge ruled that Ottawa was wrong to deny 
Life remained paralysed in the Kashmir Valley and Muslim majority areas of Jammu region on Friday due to a daylong general strike called by the breakaway 
The 
The Iraqi government will focus on rebuilding infrastructure, healing sectarian divisions and bolstering the security forces in order to stabilise the country, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in an article published Friday.
Al-Qaida's No. 2 praised Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in a videotape broadcast Friday but did not mention his death in a U.S. airstrike, suggesting the tape was made earlier. Ayman al-Zawahri focused on political developments in the Palestinian territories, Sudan and Egypt in the tape broadcast by the Al-Jazeera network. It mentions a national referendum proposed on May 25 by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The bearded al-Zawahri wore a white turban and tunic, and sat before a black background with an automatic weapon propped behind his right shoulder. He repeatedly waved his right hand and pointed his finger in a gesture of admonishment. The al-Qaida deputy leader criticized a proposed national referendum in the Palestinian territories on establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel, giving recognition to the Jewish state. "I call on Muslims to reject any referendum on Palestine, because Palestine is part of the Islamic world and not subject to any compromise. 
